Murshid

The term is frequently used in Sufi orders such as the Naqshbandiyya, Qādiriyya, Chishtiya, Shadhiliya and Suhrawardiyya.

The path of Sufism starts when a student (murid) takes an oath of allegiance or Bay'ah (bai'ath) with a spiritual guide (murshid).

[2] The murshid's role is to spiritually guide and verbally instruct the disciple on the Sufi path, but "only one who has himself reached the End of the path is a spiritual guide in the full sense of the Arabic term murshid".

Any tariqa or silsila has one murshid at a time who is the head of the spiritual order.

The concept states that from pre-existence till pre-eternity, there shall always remain a Qutb or a Universal Man upon the earth who would be the perfect manifestation of God's will and thus following in the very footsteps of the preeminent Islamic prophet Muhammad.